Lowering blood-alcohol limit will save lives (Other Views)

Every hour in the United States, one person dies and three people suffer debilitating injuries from crashes involving drunk drivers. All told, that adds up to 10,000 deaths and nearly 30,000 serious injuries a year.

It's a tragic reality Americans don't have to accept as a risk of navigating our streets and highways. The National Transportation Safety Board, with solid evidence behind it, believes toughening state standards for drunken driving will significantly lower those numbers. The NTSB is recommending that states lower their blood-alcohol percentage legal limits from .08 to .05, or roughly the equivalent of two drinks for a man weighing up to 160 pounds or one drink for a woman weighing less than 120 pounds.

Winning this fight will require a years-long effort against a powerful industry. Restaurants, wine makers and beer distributors are already lining up to squelch the proposal. But California's lawmakers should take the lead in reducing the tragic carnage on our roads.

More than 100 countries already have reduced their blood-alcohol thresholds to .05 percent. The results are eye-opening. A decade after the lower standard was put into place, European nations reportedly cut the number of alcohol-related deaths in half. Australia also is enjoying a significant reduction in the number of alcohol-related deaths, which it attributes in part to changes in behavior by social drinkers.

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Sarah Longwell, a spokeswoman for the American Beverage Institute, calls the NTSB recommendation "ludicrous." She vigorously opposes the notion of going after social drinkers while pointing out that the real problem is repeat, heavy drinkers. But if the American Beverage Institute had its way, the life-saving .08 limit wouldn't have been put into effect. The group has also opposed common-sense efforts by states to require alcohol ignition devices in vehicles belonging to people convicted of a first-time drunk driving offense.

The lower blood-alcohol limit isn't the only NTSB recommendation aimed at making our roads safer from drunk drivers.

The NTSB also wants to create incentives for states to adopt best practices for more widespread use of interlock systems. The board has previously reported that about three out of every four drivers ordered by the courts to use these devices fail to comply. Under the NTSB guidelines, repeat offenders would be required to use technology similar to a Breathalyzer test to operate a vehicle.

Thousands dead each year, tens of thousands more hurt. All residents should push their state legislatures to take a common-sense step toward making our streets and highways safer to drive.